Archive for the ‘Virginia Tech’ Category

During the game with Marshall, the Hokies will wear maroon helmets with orange and white stripes and the old T within the V logo, in honor of Tech great Frank Loria. The helmet is a replica of the one worn by Loria during a brilliant Tech career. The Clarksburg, W.Va., native earned first-team All-America honors at safety in 1966 and went on to become Virginia Tech’s first consensus All-American as a senior in 1968.

Loria was a member of the Marshall University coaching staff when he died in the tragic Marshall plane crash in 1970. Loria was selected a charter member when the Virginia Tech Sports Hall of Fame was established in 1982.

In addition to the throwback helmets, this game is the White Out game which aims to promote reading across the Commonwealth.

I don’t know about you, but I think the old-style VT is badass. I hope the team keeps this as a regular part of their uniform for at least one or two games a year. It would be cool if we wore this and the throwback jerseys to the bowl game every year. I say we start a movement to get the throwbacks as our bowl unis. Who’s with me?

Real Clear Sports has just jumped up to my top 5 websites because of this little article. Who’s number one on this list of best entrances in college football? That would be us. That is how you show respect to the definitive entrance to a college football stadium. I watched the video that all of us have seen so many times, and still got chills. Oh what the hell, here it is.

Awesome.

Now let’s see what RCS had to say about it:

It starts with one side of the stadium, “LET’S GO….” And then the other side responds, “HOKIES”. Then the bass line from Metallica’s “Enter Sandman” starts. Fans begin jumping up and down. The band is lined up outside of the tunnel. The music hits the crescendo, the team rushes out of the tunnel, the fireworks explode, and Lane Stadium becomes one of the loudest stadiums in college football – and they haven’t even started playing yet.

Is there a back-story to this entrance? Probably. But as you jump up and down like a madman somewhere deep in the mountains of Virginia, with Metallica’s bass lines thumping against your brain, ready to watch your Hokies do battle on a crisp fall night, do you care? Probably not. Obviously, with a relatively new song, the tradition isn’t very old, but it has quickly garnered the respect of all college football fans and players as the most intense entrance in college football.

And by far the best part of the analysis was the beginning, which I will leave you with, if only to ponder how true it is:

We held this one for number one for fear that after you see it you might try and run through a brick wall.

The Atlanta Chapter of the VT Alumni Association has sent us some interesting information. They are hosting a tailgate prior to the beatdown of the Crimson Tide. Check out the website here where you can buy tickets and get all the necessary info.

This little shindig sounds pretty cool. All you Hokie fans down in the Dirty South should get a move on to go to the tailgate. It’ll be just like your tailgate except better and you won’t have to do any of the clean up or setup work. They’ll have hamburgers and hot dogs, corn hole, and other tailgate games. Oh yeah, and they have the brewskis. Plus they even hooked you up with maps of the MARTA system (that’s the Atlanta public transit system for all of you who aren’t in the know) so that you don’t even have to worry about driving to or from the massive win over Alabama. You can celebrate to your hearts content.

Anyways, hit up the website and if you’re in the Atlanta area (read: within 250 miles of Atlanta) on Sept. 5th then you get you sweet ass to the tailgate and root on the boys in maroon (unless of course Alabama is in Maroon and then root on the boys in whatever color we’re wearing). Just remember, you need to get tickets by August 28th (that’s in 4 days) otherwise you may be shit out of luck.

It looks like someone at NBC Sports reads our blog, because today they have posted a “Best home-field/court advantage” list, enumerating the best stadiums and arenas for home court advantage, professional and college. There was no rank as they went by sport rather than compare against each other, but I am happy to announce that they listed Lane Stadium as the second college football stadium, right after LSU’s Tiger Stadium. While I would have liked to be numero uno, can’t really complain about the silver. Way to correct your faux pas, NBC Sports. If you plan on doing a “Best Entrances Ever in the History of the World”, I expect to be number one. No questions asked.

And, might I also add, the picture they chose to represent Tech’s blurb was, you guessed it, none other than THE NORTH END ZONE (I used it as the banner picture). I see you, NBC Sports. I like your subtlety.

WARNING: This post contains massive levels of outrage mixed with sadness, fear, alcohol, and a little bit of Guitar Hero.

Christ, dude.

That’s really all we have. There are no words.

We get it that the Pirates are better than a cream puff. But for a program with an empty trophy case for a future National Championship, these things cannot happen.

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So where did we go wrong?

The way we saw the game, there were four things that caught our attention as to how bad our game time coaching may actually be. Feel free to disagree, but these are the things that made us put an Iron City through the screen.

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1.The end of the first half.

With 8 seconds to go on the clock as Glennon goes out of bounds on first down, we felt pretty good. Why wouldn’t we? Knocking on the door of field goal range (not saying it would be close to going in, but it would be worth a shot, of course). Take a quick shot downfield and call a quick timeout.

Hey wait, where’s the offense going? Get back on the field. No… we didn’t.

Timeout, Virginia Tech. That’s their last charged timeout.

Holy. Lord.

We have 40 seconds to get a play in, get to the line, and hike the ball. Now we are forced to go to the sideline, and we all know Glennon isn’t exactly Elway-esque.

Beamer is officially the Joe Gibbs of college football.

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2. I’ll take some defense, hold the blitz.

Hey, what’s the best way to neutralize a situation in which you best secondary player is out with an injury? Let’s give the quarterback more time.

We counted 2 plays in which Tech rushed more than the four down linemen. Those two plays wound up with crappy throws by ECU. The other plays? Well, completing 19 of 23 passes should pretty much tell the tale.

When did this happen? Are we really that bad on defense that we can’t pressure any more? This is frighteningly similar to 2003 season. Does the name Heath Miller remind anyone of something?

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3. Running outside is no longer available in Bud Light

This one is pretty straight forward, and we certainly didn’t keep numbers on it. But it certainly seemed like Kenny Lewis was much, much faster than almost everyone on the ECU defense.

Yet we run up the middle. It seemed to us that most of our runs outside (especially to the strong side) provided much more productivity.

Again, no numbers, just sayin’.

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4.The Virginia Tech “Drive” that started with 10:18 to go in the 4th.

Ok, at this point we are freaking out. Yes, we know we’re up by 9 right now, but we have zero confidence in anything going on in the coach’s heads. If you’re sure we’re going to win this game, you are on a different planet.

We get a good run from Kenny Lewis (on the outside, by the way), and run it twice more for the first down.

We then proceed to pass the ball three times. One to the sideline, two incomplete.

Plays: 7

Time of possession: 2:37

Conservatively, we run off over two extra minutes by running. And with a two score lead, it would certainly behoove Beamer to start thinking about the time.

Had we run off two more minutes, ECU gets the ball back with 5:41 left.

But more importantly, after we go into Boston College defense, the Pirates would have scored a touchdown with only 1:36 remaining. An onside kick on its way, and a much better chance at a Hokie victory.

And after the most pointless blocked kick in history (the touchdown was all but automatic for ECU offense), we once again put Glennon in a terrible position: having to win the game for us.

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Overall

Clearly, we need a revamp of coaching. Whoever is making these decisions has to be taken out of the role.

We don’t know who should be put in what position, but the status quo is clearly not the answer. The CEO of my company doesn’t know how to do my job, but he can sure as hell tell when I’m not performing. And our coaches are not performing.

Phew, that felt better. Furman is up next. We’ll let you know what our possible future is coming up.

Today, we remember those friends we lost one year ago. Last year, we reflected on things we’d learned. After a year, there are things we should always remember.

Remember those that personally helped. Families. Close friends. Random strangers that offered condolences. Old friends that had grown out of touch.

Remember those kids that gave up their weekends to drive 5 hours from another school, just to stand on the Drillfield with you to say that they care.

Remember that one guy you knew from high school that changed his picture on Facebook to the black ribbon, and remember that you were the only person he knew that went to Tech.

Remember that random school you hadn’t heard of that held a candlelight vigil, and probably will again tonight. Remember all those rival schools that did the same.

Remember how the country embraced the Hokie Nation. Hokies in Florida, California, and Delaware walked outside and saw flags at half staff. Thoughts and prayers were offered worldwide. It’s tough to fall with millions of people behind you.

Remember these things because tragedy will continue touch your life and the lives around you. Remember how much those small gestures meant to you. They will mean just as much when you offer them to someone else.

Remember that there’s always a plan. There was a plan when one man survived the Holocaust. There is a plan for everyone.

Remember the first football game. It was freaking ECU, and the place was absolutely rocking. It’s doubtful that there is more fitting tribute one can imagine.

Remember when the country saw what we all knew already: that the Tech community was different, somehow. We knew it as freshmen. We knew it at graduation. We knew that it just couldn’t be like this everywhere.

And now it has been a year. Things are undoubtedly different, but they are also better.

It’s not that we’ve gotten over it; we’ll never get over it. We will never forget. We still think about it daily. We will always be sad, but we continue to stay strong. Some of us still feel guilty that we weren’t there when it happened. Or that it happened and we didn’t stop it. Or that we’re still here while 32 friends are not. And it’s all understandable. And everyone is still here to help.

But we are doing better. We still miss our friends, but we are stronger. And just as we honor those we lost remembered at War Memorial, we will honor those we lost remembered in front of Burruss. We continue to honor them in the way we make the Virginia Tech community as special for the next generation as it was, and is, for us.

In April, people wondered if this would define Virginia Tech. We knew it wouldn’t. We know it hasn’t. And we know it won’t. What has defined us, as it always had, is the Hokie Nation itself. From future Hokies, new freshmen, alumni, families, friends, fans, and everyone in between. We are the ones that define Virginia Tech and the Hokies. We always have been and always will be.

I use the quotation marks because the word “thoughts” does not include the phrase “angry rants”. No no, I’m not super angry. More frustrated. Tired of missing these golden opportunities to jump to the next level. Sad for the fact that these BCS games don’t come too often. Nor do they come often against teams we should beat.

Yes, we should have beaten Kansas. Not that we could have won. We straight up should have won. KU was better than I thought, for sure. Really, I had no idea what to expect as they didn’t really play anyone. But to lose by 3 after the way Tech played? We should have won.

Make no mistake, this loss set us back. A program fighting on the brink of elite did not need another loss in a BCS game. This now makes 12 years since a BCS win. Officially, no one is allowed to talk about a National Championship on this site. WVU is 10 times more likely to win one than us… that hurt to type.

So let’s play the question/answer dialog:

Was the season a success?

Yes, of course. 11-3 is always successful. I will always be happy OVERALL with a season. I got to do the tomahawk chop in mocking fashion with 75,000 of my best friends. I’ve been waiting since kindergarten to do that.

But the name of the game is missed opportunities. There is no need to document those. Besides, the computer I was tracking them on got thrown into the wall when we kicked the ball into Joe Mortensen’s stomach.

Since the season was technically a success, does anything need changed?

Good God yes. Bryan Stinespring… wow. If our offense was anywhere near AVERAGE, we finish top 5 every year. By my count, our offense cost us 17 points from turnovers. We win going away if we punted the ball on 1st down.

Despite what you probably think, I am not a football expert. I cannot tell you exactly what needs to change in our offense (i.e. RUN THE %#*&ING BALL!). But I do know that if you have a legend like Frank Beamer as your coach and you can’t recruit a top 30 offense, then you need to go home. If it quacks like a duck, it’s either a duck or coach Bombay. (Hey, think Gordon could come be OC? I’d take Charlie Conway or that cake eater Adam Banks at this point.)

By my count, there are 217 “Fire Bryan Stinespring” websites/facebook groups/nursery schools. This is not including the international community. The surge in the facebook group membership in the past 4 days should be telling enough. (The newest to join the Fire BS/VT blog community is in the links to the right.) I’m not saying its the end all be all, but sometimes a little change is good. And any change concerning our offense can’t be bad.

(Note that I refrained from using the phrase “offensive offense”… aww dammit.)

But I am only one person. How can I make a difference?

Write your congressman. Tell him or her that we cannot stand for this kind of blind bi-partisan coaching. I don’t really know what I meant by that, but forget it. I’m rolling.

Can we at least hate Kansas now?

Unfortunately or otherwise, no. Every fan we met from the heart land was pretty fun. Most likely because they had booze, and we had no contact with KU whatsoever before this game. The last time we played common opponents was in 1874.

Ironically, Michael “Ookie” Vick was transferred to a prison in Kansas. Maybe ESPN will make him define the state, cuz lord knows they made him define us. (Seriously, the freshmen this year were 12 when Vick played at Tech. No one cares.)

Will we be in the National Championship hunt in 2008?

Get the hell off of my porch, son.

But the game was fun. To all fans out there, if you can make a BCS game, DO IT. Then you’ll realize why our goal every year should be to win the conference. Yes, we are angry right now, but we are angry about one game. That’s fine. We all know we had a great season. And we will all remember that in a few weeks when we return from our ESPN.com hibernation.

The time has finally come. It’s been 31 long days since the last Hokie game. We tried to get by with basketball, but this year, we’re just… just awful. (National Champions in 2009. Mark it down.) But now it’s almost game time!

This is a short preview, as most of us are rolling down to Miami. Maybe someone too cheap to go down can write up a betterfunnier longer preview (*cough* dip/steve/tim *cough*). But we should win. And if we play up to our potential, we will win handily. But we’re all Hokies, and we all know how some of these games go. At least it will be fun no matter what.

Enjoy the BCS Bowl birth. They don’t grow on trees, you know. But this is an opportunity. Much like the ACC Championship was a must-win for legitamacy, this is just as big. In 1995, we won the Sugar Bowl. Four years later we played for the National Championship. Coincidence? Doubt it. (Yes, I know Vick was a freshman, but the rest of the team was pretty loaded as well.)